Projecting mounting posts and projecting contact portions on a prior electrical connector are known from the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,900. The contact portions are shorter than the mounting posts. The free ends of the mounting posts will register in respective apertures of a printed circuit board, while the shorter contact portions are spaced from the printed circuit board and are positioned in alignment with respective apertures. The contact portions are aligned and then inserted into the respective apertures. Fluent solder is applied to the contact portions to connect the contact portions to conductive circuits that are carried by the printed circuit board. Each mounting post is tapered toward its free end to provide a lead-in portion for ease of passage into a corresponding aperture.
The contacts are easily bent if they are misaligned with the axes of the apertures and the base of the connector is moved to engage the printed circuit board. Thus a person performing the assembly by hand must exercise skill and judgement to provide the mechanical accuracy necessary to align the contact portions with respective apertures. This hand assembly is a tedious operation that is suitably performed by automated machinery. Such machinery lacks the skill and judgement achieved in the performance of hand assembly and lacks the mechanical accuracy to align and insert the contact portions without bending them. Thus it is an advantage that the improved connector of the invention is provided with features that will increase the likelihood that the contact portions of the connector will be successfully assembled in apertures of a printed circuit board by machinery of limited capacity for mechanical accuracy.